Many people are concerned about a child's ability to receive inappropriate content over the Internet. For example, many web sites display or sell pictures and videos that may not be distributed to minors. Other web sites carry content that, although it may be legally displayed to minors, would still be considered objectionable to many parents.
To prevent unauthorized access, many web site providers have instituted individual mechanisms to ensure that web site visitors are of proper age. For example, many web sites request credit card and birth date information to verify the age of the end user. However, the lack of consistency among such web sites has disadvantaged both content providers and consumers alike. To the extent the web sites request the same information, users find themselves keying in the same information over and over again. To the extent the web sites request different information, the user is plagued with remembering which site requires a particular item of information or deciding whether to disclose such information.
Moreover, most of these sites are only interested in the visitor's age and are not concerned with whether a parent would or would not give their children permission to visit the site.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system which controls access to web sites by minors, promotes consistency without requiring entry of repetitive information, and which allows parents to participate in the process.